All three of us, for the money, that's right!

It is that crazy kind of humid/hot that lets you know its summer. I got up at 5:30 and did three miles this morning and the air is thick enough to compare the run to a swim. When I finished I was dripping wet.
Because of the heat and the early hour, I did (for me) a funny thing. I ran shirtless.
Its one of those things that women with amazing stomachs, triathletes and people who don't eat ice cream can get away with, but not me. I have a polly sort of potato stomach, very pale because I am Irish and work mostly indoors. But putting on another layer to have sweat stick to was just way too unappealing at quarter of six this morning.
When I was in college, I used to drag my friend (and roommate) Lia running from time to time, and she always insisted on shirtless-ness, mainly because she was not a fan of running or clothes and she knew my feelings on shirtless running. I always threatened her with a faster pace, since we lived downtown in a college town and were pretty much guaranteed to see people we knew, but she accepted that and we would go, shirtless, running fast through the streets before breakfast.
As a routine it never lasted very long, it was basically something she did in the rare times she was trying to quit smoking, and she would always end up starting to smoke again, and that would be the end of it.
Its funny to think of it now, given the length of time that has passed since then, and we are still basically the same people. She's still a smoker and occasional runner, and I'm still a runner and not fond of shirtlessness in public places, and though of late (given distance and particular views and opinions) we're more tentative friends, we are still friends, and I'm glad that's the case.